Talk:Dinosaurs/Mobs/@comment-25170040-20140712101054
Could you guys add like Megalodon cause I LOVE SHARKS BABY! Heres his info: Megalodon meaning big tooth,big,mighty it is an extinct species of sharks that live approximately 28 to 1.5 million years ago during the Cenozoic Era (Late Oligecence to early Pleistocene) megalodon is regarded as one of the largest and most powerful predators in vertebrate history,and likely had a profound impact on the structure of marine communities. Fossil remains suggest that this giant shark reached a maximum length of 14–18 metres (46–59 ft),and also affirm that it had acosmopolitan distribution.Scientists suggest that C. Megalodon ''looked like a stockier version of the great white shark,''Carcharodon carcharias. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Megalodon_tooth_with_great_white_sharks_teeth-3-2.jpg This picture shows a tooth of a Megalodon (Black) compared to some tooths of a Great White Shark http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Megalodon_scale.svg Megalodon (gray and red) with the whale shark (violet), great white shark(green), and a human (black) for scale.Note: The maximum size attained by megalodon is indicated by the 20 m scale. Extinction: The subject of C. megalodon extinction remains under investigation.[11] Several possible causes for its decline and eventual disappearance have been proposed. Oceanic cooling and sea level drops The Earth has been in a long term cooling trend since the Miocene Climactic Optimum, 15-17 Ma ago.[60] This trend may have been accelerated by changes in global ocean circulation caused by the closure of the Central American Seaway[7][61]and/or other factors (see Pliocene climate), setting the stage for glaciation in the northern hemisphere.[61] Consequently, during the late Pliocene and Pleistocene, there were ice ages,[62][63] which cooled the oceans significantly.[7] Expansion of glaciation during the Pliocene tied up huge volumes of water in continental ice sheets, resulting in significant sea level drops.[42] The major reason cited is the decline in ocean temperatures at global scale during the Pliocene.[7][25][64] This cooling trend adversely impacted C. megalodon, as it preferred warmer waters,[5][64] and as a result it may have declined in abundance until its ultimate extinction during the Pleistocene.[64] Fossil evidence confirms the absence of C. megalodon in regions around the world where water temperatures had significantly declined during the Pliocene.[5] Furthermore, these oceanographic changes may have restricted many of the suitable warm water nursery sites for megalodon, hindering reproduction.[7] Nursery areas are pivotal for the survival of many shark species, in part because they protect juveniles from predation.[65] Decline in food supply Baleen whales attained their greatest diversity during the Miocene,[5] with over 20 recognized genera in comparison to only six extant genera.[66] Such diversity presented an ideal setting to support a gigantic macropredator such as C. megalodon.[5] However, by the end of the Miocene many species of mysticetes had gone extinct;[4] surviving species may have been faster swimmers and thus more elusive prey.[13][41] Furthermore, after the closure of Central American Seaway, additional extinctions occurred in the marine environment,[67][68] and faunal redistribution took place; tropical great whales decreased in diversity and abundance.[69] Whale migratory patterns during the Pliocene have been reconstructed from the fossil record, suggesting that most surviving species showed a trend towards polar regions.[42] The cooling of the oceans during the Pliocene restricted the access of C. megalodon to polar regions, depriving it of its main food source, the great whales.[5][7][12][69] As a result of these developments, the food supply for megalodon in regions it inhabited during the Pliocene, primarily in low-to-mid latitudes, was no longer sufficient to sustain it worldwide.[7][45][69] C. megalodon were adapted to a specialized lifestyle, and this lifestyle was disturbed by these developments.[25] The resulting shortage of food sources in the tropics during Plio-Pleistocene times may have fueled cannibalism by megalodon. Juveniles were at increased risk from attacks by adults during times of starvation.[11] New competition Large raptorial delphinids (members of genus [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_whale Orcinus]) evolved during the Pliocene,[70] and likely filled the ecological void left by the disappearance of raptorial sperm whales at the end of the Miocene.[4] A minority view is that competition from ancestral killer whales may have contributed to the shark's decline[13][41][71] (another source suggests more generally that "competition with large odontocetes" may have been a factor[5]). Fossil records indicate that these delphinids commonly occurred at high latitudes during the Pliocene, indicating that they could cope with the increasingly prevalent cold water temperatures. They also occurred in the tropics (e.g., Orcinus sp. in South Africa).[70] However, expert consensus suggests that factors such as a cooling trend in the oceans and a shortage of food sources during Plio-Pleistocene times played a significant role in megalodon's demise.[11][27] Paleontologist Albert Sanders suggests that C. megalodon was too large to sustain itself on the declining tropical food supply.[65] Other apex predators seem to have gained from the extinction of this formidable species.[27][64] In fiction C. megalodon has been portrayed in several works of fiction, including films and novels, and continues to hold its place among the most popular subjects for fiction involving sea monsters. Many of these works posit that at least a relictpopulation of megalodon survived extinction and lurk in the vast depths of the ocean, and that individuals may manage to surface, either by human intervention or by natural means. Jim Shepard's story "Tedford and the Megalodon" is an example of this. Such beliefs are usually inspired by the discovery of a megalodon tooth by members of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Challenger_(1858) HMS Challenger] in 1872, which some believed to be only 10,000 years old.[72] Some works of fiction (such as Shark Attack 3: Megalodon and Steve Alten's Meg series) incorrectly depict C. megalodon''as being a species over 70 million years old, and to live during the time of the dinosaurs. The writers of the movie ''Shark Attack 3: Megalodon depicted this assumption by including an altered copy of Great White Shark by shark researcherRichard Ellis. The copy shown in the film had several pages that do not exist in the book. The author sued the film's distributor, Lions Gate Entertainment, asking for a halt to the film's distribution along with $150,000 in damages.[73] Steve Alten's Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror is probably best known for portraying this inaccuracy with its prologue and cover artwork depicting C. megalodon killing a tyrannosaur in the sea. Megalodon also makes a star appearance in Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus, where it is able to perform such feats as leaping tens of thousands of feet into the air from the ocean to attack aircraft. The Animal Planet fictional documentary, Mermaids: The Body Found, included an encounter 1.6 million years ago between a pod of mermaids and a megalodon. Later, the Discovery Channel aired a similar style fictional documentary entitledMegalodon: The Monster Shark Lives which involved the supposed attack on a present day pleasure boat by the prehistoric shark, giving rise to the possibility it exists. Both TV shows aired disclaimers that the shows were works of fiction. In August 2013, the Discovery Channel opened its annual Shark Week series with Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives,[74]a controversial[75][76] docufiction about the creature.[77] Megalodon has appeared in The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island as a "swimming sharptooth" that pursues the main characters for a while. Got some of the info from the wiki if you want more info go check the wiki heres the link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalodon